Wednesday December 28, 2022
Tehran: Fourteen Iranian fishermen were set free over the weekend after spending eight long years in total captivity. The fishermen were released by the Somalian al-Shabab militant group following extensive diplomatic efforts by the Iranian foreign ministry.
The ministry reportedly “successfully negotiated” the release of the abducted fishermen, with the Somalian militant group, tribal chiefs and Somali elders, according to reports from news agencies based in Iran. The hostages reached the Iranian capital of Tehran from Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital, late on Sunday night.
Al-Shabaab had kidnapped the Iranian fishermen from international waters near Somalia, way back in 2015. The majority among them were held captive for as long as eight years after their abduction.
They will now proceed to their hometown of Chabahar, in the south of Iran.
The fishermen were freed almost a month after Somali police said they had found 20 foreigners – 14 Iranians and six Pakistanis – near land controlled by militants.
According to the AFP, the police said at the time that some of the fishermen had been seized by al-Shabab in 2014 and others had been kidnapped in mid-2019.
On reaching Tehran, the group of fishermen got a rousing welcome by family members in a ceremony at the main international airport in Tehran on Sunday night.
The Islamist militant group al-Shabab is notorious for having carried carried out several attacks in Somalia in recent months, including twin car bomb explosions in capital Mogadishu in October. Nearly 120 people died in the explosions. The Somalian government has launched a large-scale offensive against al-Shabab, working together with local clan militia in attempt to rein in the militants and bring them to the mainstream.
Al-Shabab militants have been active in Somalia for more than 15 years now. They have wrested control over large rural areas and continue to mount attacks in urban towns and Somalian cities.